The present application relates to an electronic circuit device and a manufacturing method for such an electronic circuit device.
There exists an electronic circuit device that is an inverter module for drivingly controlling an electric motor. In the inverter module, a power circuit mounted with a power semiconductor element serves as the main circuit. A drive control circuit is also provided for the purpose of executing a drive control with respect to the main circuit.
There exists an inverter module that includes the main circuit and the drive control circuit that vertically overlap a substrate formed with the main circuit and a substrate formed with the drive control circuit, thus making the module more compact. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500 aims to resolve problems involved in disposing this type of substrate in an overlapping manner. Namely, according to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500, by giving a drive control circuit print board on the upper-side substrate a C shape, an inverter module with better ease of assembly and higher reliability can be achieved at a lower cost.
In the inverter module described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500, an insulated substrate mounted with a power semiconductor element and a case with at least a portion of an external lead-out terminal on a peripheral portion thereof are positionally fixed on a metal base plate for heat radiation. A drive control substrate is further positionally fixed there above.
A peripheral portion of the power semiconductor is filled with a gel-like substance such as silicon gel. The purpose of this type of gel is mainly to fill the peripheral portion of the lower-side substrate and a clearance between the lower-side substrate and the upper-side substrate.
Meanwhile, the upper-side substrate avoids the lower-side substrate by using a support body on a metal base plate. In the examples disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500, a relay terminal block in a first embodiment (FIG. 1 in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500), a support block in a second embodiment (FIG. 2(b) in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500), and a support block in a third embodiment (FIG. 3(b) in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-164500) are positionally fixed on the upper-side substrate.